Pepeton, one of our bloggers, suggested to have our facts straight in the Nov. 1 Subic rape case. From there, we form our opinions.
Here’s one fact: the criminal complaint filed by the victim before the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office. I have deleted the name of the complainant.
Criminal Complaint
03 November 2005
The undersigned accuses SSg. Carpentier, Smith, Burries,Lara,Silkwood and a John Doe whose identity are not yet known at this time, all from USS Essex for the crime of Gang Rape committed as follows:
That on or about 10:30 PM 01 November 2005, in Subic bay Metropolitan Authority and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, inside the Starex van bearing License Plate No. WKF-162 driven by Timoteo SORIANO Jr. y Laroga with accused five US Military Servicemen mentioned above as passengers, while traveling along the Waterfront Road, Subic bay Freeport Zone and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court the above named accused led by Smith collaborating, conspiring and confederating with each other, entertained by their evil sexual desire, grave abuse of confidence, force and intimidation and with abuse of superior strength committed carnal knowledge against the person of (name of victim), 22 years old, without her consent and against her will.
I feel sorry for Filipinos who are not given justice, ample support, encouragement and protection by their own government especially versus citizens of countries like the US.
It made me really angry when I heard of how officials like the Philippine Secretary of Justice would even suggest that the suspects in this gang-rape be allowed to go back to Okinawa, where they are stationed and let the US military deal with them when it is very clear that the VFA, despite its loopholes and being more favorable to the Americans, provides that cases such as this gang-rape inflicted on a Philippine civilian falls under the jurisdiction of the Philippine authorities because it happened in the Philippines, and there is no mention of the US embassy being given the authority to take custody of erring US military personnel even when the US government or their embassy may be notified of such case, for they can be given to the custody of the Philippine Military as common sense dictates as they are in principle guests of the Philippines Military .
This may be considered a too hot a case for the Philippine government to handle but the Philippine government is duty-bound to protect its own nationals, not the Americans, who should learn to behave when they are in foreign lands.
We have had similar cases in Japan where there are US military installations especially in Okinawa, which has one of the largest US military installations outside of the US.
A few years ago, a 12-year-old girl was snatched and gang-raped in an isolated hinterland by US soldiers. Immediately after the case was reported to the police, the ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs and Defense set a special commission to demand for the US military to turn them over to the Japanese police and to make sure that they were not shipped out of Japan. There was an uproar and condemnation by the public and the press against such savagery. No sympathy was accorded the criminals, and the US military had no other recourse but to turn them over to the Japanese authorities. The culprits had since then been convicted, fined and imprisoned in Japan.
Two or three years ago, I interpreted for three US servicemen, who mugged and robbed a Japanese taxi driver outside of the US base in Yokosuka. They were duly turned over to the Japanese police after Japanese authorities insisted on having jurisdiction and custody of the erring servicemen after the case was reported to the police when some passersby found the taxi-driver bleeding and seriously injured in his car.
The police identified them through fingerprints, etc. found in the taxi. The police arrested them when the taxi-driver identified them from pictures made available to the police by the US military’s legal office, who would not even want to be present during police investigation because the personnel there trusted the Japanese police although they made sure to send one or two staff to attend the trials of the accused.
The three servicemen got 7 years each for assaulting, injuring and robbing the taxi driver. They were told that they could appeal their case but they did not. They are serving their terms in a Japanese prison presently. I understand that they will undergo court martial likewise that will deprive them of pension and other privileges from the US military.
I hope this case filed the Filipino victim against these horny US soldiers will get full support from all concerned Filipinos, and that the sex maniacs who raped her will get the capital punishment as provided by Philippine law.
Frankly, I belong to a religion that considers rape as one of the less likely to be forgiven sin—in short, no retribution for the loss of honor and purity, and therefore, no forgiveness. I pray that the truth will prevail and justice be done.
We, members of the Philippine Women’s League of Japan, and the Crusade for the Protection of Philippine Interests in Japan, condemn this criminal act committed against a Filipino woman. We plan to do a street demonstration in case the Philippine government under the leadership of one suspected of committing a criminal act herself during the last presidential election frees these savages and allows them to leave the Philippines without justice being served. There will be enough Japanese nationals to help swell our protests over here, for there are a lot many Japanese who are in fact opposing US military presence in Japan.
God bless you and all those crusading journalists.
I read with grave concern your posting, Yuko Takei. In the language of the internet, you are teetering on the verge of “flaming and trolling” – anti-Americanism.
By implication, you condone and approve of “public condemnation” as valid for adjudicating criminal cases (that is tantamount to “lynching by mob rule”).
You end your posting, with what appears to be your ulterior (ultimate) message for posting your views: You do not approve of military presence in your country. And that I can understand, as I am familiar with the history of World War II.
Throughout your posting, you have been less than fair and objective. There has been a complaint filed. There has been a lot of (sensational) “media coverages”. Therefore, there have been more than ample “speculative-analysis-paralysis”. And your posting, fits into one of these.
No different from what the Pilipino Christian Brothers of De La Salle, a very reputable Catholic School (and have been so, during the last 94 years of its establishment, until now), committed when they penned a letter demanding that “GMA Resign”. The Pilipino Christian Brothers made it appear as if their personal – newly found – political activism – was mandated by the entire School and its Alumni.
They justified their involvement “in aid of moral governance…” – then when their initial attempt at playing “political activists” failed and then was rebuffed by their own polarized constituents – they added as rational for their insistence …”in search of truth, in aid of moral govenance”, – and insisted on the resignation of a duly elected and mandated (but unpopular) president.
Why the President is unpopular, if duly elected and mandated, is another topic.
The parallelism is established between the positioning of these religious Pilipino Christian Brothers and your (religious) adherence. Both smack of “political activism”, pure and simple. I now recap your concluding “promise”:
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“We, members of the Philippine Women’s League of Japan, and the Crusade for the Protection of Philippine Interests in Japan, condemn this criminal act committed against a Filipino woman. We plan to do a street demonstration in case the Philippine government under the leadership of one suspected of committing a criminal act herself during the last presidential election frees these savages and allows them to leave the Philippines without justice being served. There will be enough Japanese nationals to help swell our protests over here, for there are a lot many Japanese who are in fact opposing US military presence in Japan.
God bless you and all those crusading journalists. ”
=====================
I admonish you to exercise DUE DILIGENCE. Get the facts first. And you and I know, YOU DON’T have the facts, at this point. You can’t possibly have, what those charged with the task and responsibility of finding out, still do not have.
I would further caution you to be careful that you do not overstep the bounds of “freedom” of expression versus expressed or even implied “seditious” intent.
For a third and last point. You do have a Japanese name. And I just hope you are a Pilipino (dual) citizen. Otherwise, you might needlessly (or unwittingly) put and find yourself in a precarious situation. Foreigners are prohibited, by Philippine law, from getting involved in politics.
Minus all the emotionalism so manifestly demonstrated throughout your posting…I share the same principle about rendering EXACT judgment and sanction against heinous crime like rape. But the gravity of the act is so serious, that PRUDENCE (and compassion) dictates…that we ensure BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, the culpability of one so seriously accused of the crime. There is a dictum in law and in a truly democratic society: “Better to let a guilty person be set free…than condemn an innocent man.”
On a personal note, I would like to pass on to you, something the book “The Rainmaker”. I now paraphrase: “Take care and don’t be so full of what is right, that you don’t know what is good!”
Pepeton
No, it is not a mob rule, but a call for sensibility and yes, national sovereignty in this case that falls under Philippine jurisdiction. As for knowing what is right and good, I think I have enough common sense to know what is right and good as when my father says that “you forfeit any right you may have under the very same law you break,” or my father-in-law’s simple philosophy on sin as dictated by his Shinto religion that “you sin when you cause someone misery and pain.”
There is the law that should have been applied in this case. Little though the information shared with an equally corrupted press as the Philippine press that is far from free compared to our media in Japan (I work parttime as interpreter and translator to some TV networks and newspaper, and used to be a correspondent for a Philippine news agency as a matter of fact), and with information I read from articles written on this issue by a friend, I know when to support movements that call for common sense and sensibility, even civility.
You bet, I am against militarism of any sort, especially one that is being imposed on us by a foreign government. Life in our country has been as blissfully tolerable as it is because we have less budget for the military.
As for meddling in Philippine politics being against the law, I don’t think so. What I do in Japan is within the bounds of the law. It is a freedom of expression, etc. that is guaranteed by our Constitution and I strictly abide by so as not to forfeit my rights and privileges as the more godly inspired (no doubt) lawmakers, who drafted and approved it, must have been intended it to be so.
Suppressing freedoms of expression is more a crime against humanity as it looks to be what is the problem in the Philippines right now with a suspected criminal ruling over , rather than leading, the Filipinos now.
I am entitled to my opinion, and so are 81% of Filipinos demanding for truth and justice now.
Very interesting exchange indeed! Okinawa and Subic are peas in the pod when US servicemen are involved. Can’t blame Yuko for getting so riled up with this rape case in Subic. Whatever ramifications of the case maybe,one cannot in fairness, prejudge the guilt or innocence of the accused. Let justice run its course, without juxtaposing religion.
I would like to take exception to Pepeton’s scare tactics not to be overly zealous as to invite seditious intent. Is there any good reason to preserve the integrity the pretender in Malacanang? At other times and other places Arroyo would have gone the way of Antoinette.
Alitaptap
Your exception noted, Alitaptap (glow worm?). Where did I come across this pseudonymn before.
The “forewarning” which you perceived as a “scare tactic” is not intended. You will have to define for me your precised meaning and definition of “zealousness versus overzealousness”.
And you must take my “forewarning” (which is well-meant and sincerely, but seriously intended), within the following context of the much “abused right of free expression”. To wit.
1. Before one can lay claim to having (owning) a RIGHT, one must recognize and accept the DUTY, that gave rise to the existence of such RIGHT.
2. Primordially, therefore, that is first in order, there must be a LAW. It is the LAW, that dictates the DUTY of and for all those governed by the LAW. That comes FIRST.
3. Simplistically, the LAW either COMMANDS, or FORBIDS. Do this. Don’t do that. Of course, some “scholars” argue, “what about the Law that permits?” My quick response: Covered!
4. Reason thereafter dictates, that if one has the DUTY to observe the LAW, then such individual must, by definition, also have the RIGHT to perform the DUTY, and likewise, have the RIGHT to all the means, to be able to perform the DUTY, and perform it well.
5. Finally, therefore, if an individual has the RIGHT….to perform the DUTY, and the RIGHT, to all the means to be able to perform the DUTY, well, then EVERY OTHER INDIVIDUAL HAS THE CORRESPONDING DUTY TO RESPECT THAT PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL’S RIGHT!
6. Let’s apply it to the “most abused claim to RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.” From what DUTY DOES THE RIGHT TO SPEAK FREELY COME FROM?
Answer: THE SUPREME AND PROFOUND DUTY TO TELL THE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.
How does one know when one speaks of the truth or not?
Answer: Evidence, Reason, Conscience, and DUE DILIGENCE. These are inseparable, and indispensable, in aid and in pursuit of the truth. The Ten Commandments throughout its ten orders imply this. And more succinctly, the Eight Commandment says: “Thou shalt not bear false witness, against thy neighbor.”
7. In other words, one may speek freely, or exercise the RIGHT TO FREE EXPRESSION, only when one observes the DUTY TO OBSERVE THE TRUTH. And to be able to speak the TRUTH, one must have the FACTS. And unless one has the facts, it would be imprudent (to say the least)for one to speak “uncertainties, (and worse)disguise the falsities (and prejudices and bigotries come under this category), to speak, carelessly, although purposefully.
Alitaptap, after having said all of that, I will have to ask you to “prove” within the bounds of provable sound reasoning (flawless logic, I will settle for that), your presumptuous charge that the duly elected GMA is a “pretender in Malacanang.” What crimes that you know and can reasonably prove, (just credibly, that can withstand reasonable rebuttal, that is) has GMA committed that you could make such an outlandish comparison with the beheaded Antoinette?
NOTE: ANECDOTAL ACCOUNTS ARE PERMITTED, ONLY IF YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY PUT THESE ALL TOGETHER LOGICALLY. “HE SAYS, SHE SAYS, THEY DENY, ETC,” OUGHT TO BE DEFENDED, LOGICALLY, FOR ALLEGATIONS TO BE ALLOWED INTO THE DISCUSSION AS ‘ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE”.
Let’s hear it!
Pepeton
YSTAKEI:
Your re-post is quite enlightening. I am alright with practically most of your thoughts except for the following:
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“Suppressing freedoms of expression is more a crime against humanity as it looks to be what is the problem in the Philippines right now with a suspected criminal ruling over , rather than leading, the Filipinos now.”
“I am entitled to my opinion, and so are 81% of Filipinos demanding for truth and justice now.”
=============================
I maintain, as I have tried to explain in my response to Alitaptap, FREEDOM TO SAY, TO SPEAK, IS NOT ABSOLUTE. It is bound by a corresponding DUTY.
Neither you or I, or anybody has the absolute freedom to speak and say anything and everything, without accepting the corresponding duty in exercising such right. And be held accountable for whatever we say or write! Otherwise, there would be nothing but anarchy!
Most of us, and take that to mean THE GREATER MAJORITY of the governed population – and that includes you and me, and yes Alitaptap, too – (I venture to qualify, whether in the Philippines or Japan, or any other democratic loving country) ARE NOT PRIVY TO THE DAY-TO-DAY RUNNING OF THE GOVERNMENT.
We depend on MEDIA, for the most part for our information. Journalists have the enviable, yet thankless job, of finding out the facts and disseminating the information to the public. YOU ARE WHO YOU READ, AND BELIEVE.
You seem to believe that the president of the Philippines, GMA is “a suspected criminal ruling over , rather than leading, the Filipinos now.” Why? What crime do you know, can prove, or explain – logically and credibly that GMA has committed?” From where does this (apparent) “mindset” come from? Or put it even simpler, “what crime do you think GMA is suspected of???” Let’s be specific, please.
Who are the 81% demanding truth and justice? What truth and justice are they demanding?
As for being entitle to one’s opinion, no doubt, I agree with you, too. However, an opinion without validation, confirmation, and resolution is, to my way of thinking just like an A-hole…everybody has one…Yes. And I am no exception. But I want to raise the bar…way above the typical anal and banal levels of discussions.
I have read your re-post with keen interest and utmost respect. I understand, most of it. Even agree with more than I thought I could, before we got “engaged” in this discussion. But now, I must turn back to you and ask that you explain the additional points of concern that I have stipulated.
Noblesse oblige.
Pepeton
Pepeton ,
You lost me in your labyrinthine dissertation about right and duty, freedom of expression, etc. Truth to tell, my brain congeals with your ‘spokening england’ so lets just get down to brass tacks.
You must be living under a rock if you don’t know about the pretender in Malacanang. How can you claim, even with feigned presumption, that she is duly elected? She has violated every rule in the book to get proclaimed. I will grant you the meaning of duly elected according to the “golden rule” to wit: men are told by woman who got the gold.
Alitaptap
Alitaptap,
PROVE IT. Or at least DEMONSTRATE it, through logical deduction and inferences.Or forever desist from maligning the facts! And propagating your baseless presumptions!
Try! Let’s see how credible you get.
Pepeton
Seminar on Philosopy of Law, Duty and Right is finished. I feel confident in assuming that most of the bloggers here have attended a course or so on “Ethics”…and more.
However, not all who have gone to or attended school, are graduated, or leave school educated! Schooled but not educated, so to speak.
Nagaral pero walang natutuhan tungkol sa (importanteng bagay ukol sa buhay). You will see a lot of them in Congress.
I have also encountered many of these and similar types in the world of cyberspace. In the internet they are called “Pedant netizens who dare and brandish sophistication”.
Me? Nangopya lang ako…pero natuto akong mangopya ng mahusay!
Not everybody who went to school and studied, LEARNED THE LESSON (about life). To paraphrase Bacon, “Some (lessons) are to be chewed; others to be digested; and the real important ones, both chewed and digested well.”
Not all that glitters is gold, either, true! But the “golden rule” dictates – “He or she who owns the gold, RULES.” What is your problem with that?
Pepeton
Alitaptap:
Coup d’ grace! I know who was declared winner in the presidential election 2004. Unanimously acclaimed by the COMELEC, NAMFREL, CONGRESS.
I also know the COMPLAINT FILED ABOUT CHEATING DURING THE (same)ELECTION that was adjudicated by the Supreme Court as BASELESS.
What don’t you understand or believe about this? By what principles of governance do you base your agitated refusal to accept, what has plainly been judged, by the duly constituted powers of the government as valid and final?
What proofs, or sound reasoning can you advance here that will controvert the deliberations and findings of these empowered agencies?
The NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS?????? About what? Time to get down to “brass tacks”. Let’s hear it.
Pepeton
Alitaptap,
Like you, I believe that Gloria violated every rule in the book to get elected after ‘duly’ stealing the presidency previously.
Cheers.
Before I get carried away, let me acknowledge that I am guest here of Ellen, so by your leave I will proceed.
Thanks Anna for the thumbs up – it is so exhilarating….
Pepeton says:
“He or she who owns the gold, RULES.” What is your problem with that?
———————–
It is not my problem, pepeton. It is your problem if the gold came from the den of thieves – then you are bound for the gallows.
So you fall back on COMELEC, CONGRESS and the SUPREME COURT to prop up the pretender? You do not need crutches to prop up a genuine entity. You do amuse me, kind sir. COMELEC was stuffed with commissioners who attended obedience school for the pretender in contravention to their sworn duty to be independent entity. Look at commissioner GARCI!
CONGRESS is purportedly independent of the pretnder, but look at the circus created during the canvassing of votes. It was a moromoro to say it mildly. It was not even funny … it was obscene.
And the SUPREME COURT! Davide is so transparent and spineless like a jellyfish – he would rather preserve his Baguio condo than antagonize your pretender in the “palace by the murky river” (description by Yuko).
These are merely icings on the not so pretty cake to portray the pretender as duly mandated by the people. The rotten cake was the unbridled electioneering using bribes and expenditures of public money. Four hundred million coconuts of the calamity fund and public highways fund disappeared like magic. Don’t ask me to PROVE it. DISPROVE it yourself by showing where the missing funds are.
So in the beginning the pretender have no legs to stand on and claim that she is duly elected by the people. I do not impugn your motives in believing otherwise. On the contrary, I am awed by your fawning devotion to the pretender, which can only be understood by the likes of tongressmen Diaz and de Venecia, who flipped over the glint of mere five pieces of silver.
Alitaptap
Anecdotes, rank hearsays, spins, bloviatings…you argue your points like some media assets who are paid to write and say things, regardless.
If your life or career depended on it, there is not one, charge you can prove. So you twist the argument and ask me to PROVE YOUR ASSERTION, by disproving what I DID NOT ASSERT? Nice try.
You have made all the assertions. The burden of proof is on your side.
You accuse..you prove. You can’t prove? Then stop accusing.
That is tolerable only in tabloid reporting.
In the internet, when you engage in a discussion, you have to be prepared to PROVE, through evidence, or power of reason and logic…your allegations.
You can rant and rave, and jump up and down, the way all GMA oppositionists have been jumping up and down, and writing and bloviating against her, for the last 4 + years. As they will continue to do so for the next 5 more.
Walang epek sa pekpek lahat yan. Until you can come out with a PROOF or a credible STORY, that the “silent thinking majority will buy.” And thus far, they are not buying!
I will reiterate. Anti GMA media has thrown everything and including the kitchen sink at GMA…but the “silent thinking majority” just don’t believe any of it, nor are persuaded enough to take the action that has been provoked by all these hyped propagandas…why?
The lady is not going anywhere, until she decides it is time to go! NO MILITARY COUP IN THE PHILIPPINES CAN SUCCEED, without the support of the people. Ask Gringo Honasan! He and his mistahs have some 9 attempts at it – all of which failed!
And neither the political opposition’s “wanna grab power” or your prejudiced mindset based on misinformed perception…is supported by the greater number of thinking and feeling people.
Besides, there is a new US Ambassador coming to town. Just kick back and relax, and give your inner rage a rest.
Christmas will be in December, just like it has always been.
Pepeton
“Walang epek sa pekpek lahat yan”… (ni Oria?) But of course, Oria has developed an armadillo hide – impervious to shame. One can’t possibly engage in “a lapse of judgment” and cheat; re-steal stolen Marcos loot; gloriafy and pimp for japayukis; etc. unless equipped like Oria.
What has the new ambassador got to do with Oria? Reminds me when Colin Powell was in town and Oria has got a wishlist presented to Powell like she were a mendicant.
One more thing. Oria need not gloat over the killing of the impeachment initiative because it will forever be latched on to her legacy, just like the scarlet letter.
In parting, you haven’t explained your fawning adulation for Oria.
Alitaptap
Alitaptap is a “glow worm”…emphasis is on “spark” – or “ningas”… sandaling “(pa)siklab…and then is no more…like a worm…or bulati, that crawls into the ground and is seen no more.
You do have an inexhaustible inventory of accusations, allegations, designed to malign…tarnish and demolish GMA and her administration…YET CAN PROVE NONE, or plainly offer a CREDIBLE STORY that can stand the test of serious rebuttal.
You speak the language of GMA-haters and bloviators…like Ping Lacson and his cohorts; or Joseph Ejercito and his ilks.
It is clear. I have read your postings. “Not that I love the Philippines less…it’s just that I hate GMA more.”
You don’t really give a shit about the Philippines or the Pilipinos who will be directly affected by anarchy or sedition or rebellion. You are constantly flaming and trolling. And stoking the fires of anarchy, sedition and rebellion with your unfounded and unproven diatribes against the duly elected party in power. You just want GMA out for whatever reason (not important)…just get her out of the OP….and then what, I want to know? To be replaced how, and by whom…go ahead…you have center stage to SHOW OFF, your solutions.
Who do you propose to put IN CHARGE? Ping Lacson? Jinggoy? His Dad? His Mom? Loren Legarda? And how do you propose to put your CHOICE into power. Let’s hear it.
PJA
Este, Alitaptap….show me one posting, just one….in this blog, where you can show my “fawning adulation” for GMA…
Or anything that I have posted here that purports to substantiate your PURE ALLEGATION, THAT I ADMIRE GMA…GO AHEAD…
And I will expose and reduce to absurdity – as in SASAGARIN KO ANG KAHIHIYAN MO…because of your BIGOTRY and PREJUDICE.
You really argue and debate like the paid media assets of Ping Lacson, Joseph Ejercito and the band of losers. Are you?
PJA
In light of new developments regarding the “alleged incident of rape,” I recommend that certain disclaimers be now issued in this blog website.
The “disturbing facts are now emerging and surfacing”:
1. The “alleged victim” has been reported to declare her decision to change-reduce her complaint from “rape or gang rape” to “acts of lasciviousness”.
2. Actually, this attempt to recant was known about a week ago, today. Except for a “passing (casual) mention” of this in Philippine media, it hardly raised any eyebrows. Well, the decision to recant by the alleged “victim” also reached and caught the attention of Sen. Santiago, who decided to jump in feet first with her “political-legal” doublespeaks -about SUING THE ALLEGED VICTIM FOR PERJURY, if she withdraws her initial complaints and reduces it to “acts of lasciviousness.” So, now, the government prosecution has another “HOSTILE WITNESS”. DALAWA NA ANG KEY “HOSTILE WITNESSES” NG GOBYERNO…HINDI PA NAGUUMPISA ANG KASO.
3. The other HOSTILE WITNESS, of course, is Timoteo Soriano, the driver, who has been subpoenaed, for a similar reason. On top of that, the prosecution is trying to put a plot together to implicate Soriano as the BUGAW.
4. Meanwhile, (head) legal counsel for the prosecution, Katrina Legarda continues with her tirades against the American servicemen, and unrelentlessly spins and bloviates presumptive charges for “media (political propaganda) effect”, which in a court of law can only serve to weaken her case…HINDI PA NABUBUO ANG KASO, TALO NA.
5. Let me close, with an observation from another journalist, whose OP-ED has been forwarded to me, along with other comments. For brevity, I am attaching only a portion of the most pertinent thoughts to our discussion:
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT APPARENTLY THERE IS A SEGMENT OF THE MEDIA THAT PRACTICES RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM!!!! This can bee seen from the following article, which is standing up to the lynch mobs:
This story was taken from http://www.inq7.net
————————————————————
MSGE FWDED TO:
http://news.inq7.net/viewpoints/index.php?index=2&story_id=57804
Questions raised by Subic rape case
First posted 12:15pm (Mla time) Nov 26, 2005
By Rasheed Abou-Alsamh
INQ7.net
THE ALLEGED rape of the young Filipino woman several weeks ago by a group of drunken US Marines on R&R leave at Subic Bay has raised more questions than it has answered. The main question in my mind is why would any woman in her right mind hook up with a group of six young and, let’s be honest here, horny soldiers in a bar, of all places? After news of the rape broke out into the media, the woman’s family was at pains to insist that their daughter was “de buena familia” and was definitely not a prostitute. In fact, they rushed to emphasize that she’s a college graduate. Which just makes me wonder even more about what happened to her common sense that night when she agreed to join the Marines in their drinking spree?
Unfortunately, as we all know, a good education is no guarantee of having common sense, and in this case it is sadly doubly true. The other troubling question is how this whole case is being exploited by the media, especially the tabloid newspapers, to whip up blind anti-Americanism. For sure the Visiting Forces Agreement, which the Philippines signed with the United States after the American withdrawal from the Clark and Subic Bay military bases in 1992, heavily favors the United States. This is the case with all agreements the US signs with allies in terms of jurisdiction over American citizens who commit crimes on foreign soil while serving in the US military.
Nevertheless, as recent rape cases involving US servicemen in Japan and Korea have shown, the United States has a good track record of keeping the accused soldiers in the country where the crime was committed, and has punished those found guilty of committing rape.
The Subic case has also served to polarize public opinion between the feminist camp, which views the woman in this case as a total victim who must find vindication at all costs in the courts of law and public opinion, and the skeptical camp that is probably mostly male, and which wonders why a woman who voluntarily offered herself to the six Americans is now complaining that they took advantage of her.
The legal teams of both sides are indicative of this split: The victim’s team is all-female, headed by the high-profile Katrina Legarda, who appeared on ABS-CBN television’s “Pipol” program Wednesday night saying that the Marines didn’t have to rape the girl, as they could have paid a prostitute for a good time.
I was amazed when I heard that, as obviously the woman involved was not a professional lady of the night, but was still obviously sleazy enough to get blind drunk with the American soldiers and then even agree to go with them into their van, where they allegedly raped her as they drove around Subic.
The US Marines are being represented by an all-male team of older lawyers, many former diplomats who have served in Philippine embassies abroad, including the lead lawyer Raul Rabe, who served at the Philippine embassy in Washington.
Some observers have commented that the woman claiming rape seems to just be after money that she could gain in some sort of settlement with the accused. I for one still feel unsure about many aspects of this case. It is just unfortunate that many in the media have decided to pre-judge the case before the accused have even had the chance to present their side of the story in a court of law.
Let’s judge this case in a court of law, and not be hasty and pre-judge it in the media.
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Thank God for shining the Sun through the clouds of despair, as He always does! As long as there are at least some responsible journalists, and I suspect that there are many in the Philippines, there is hope for the better!
Responsible journalism is the foundation of social responsibility by the entire Media. The old Latin proverb, Justicia Regnorum fundamentum, (Justice is the foundation of kingdoms, but it really means the States) is hereby so paraphrased. (Peter Walker).
PJA